Month: April 2019

I hope that Easter has been a time of renewal for you all
and you have been able to enjoy the glorious weather. Easter is for me, as you
all know, very busy and holds a certain poignancy as we travel from death into
life. The sunrise on Easter Sunday was I am told the best yet and we watched
the sun glinting on the horizon then rise majestically into the sky heralding the
new day and time to celebrate the risen Jesus. There are lots of stories to
tell and reminders of the message of Easter all around but for me this year what
stuck in my mind was the question of a small child. He asked his mum “Can we go
and find Jesus and be where he is?”

I find myself asking “what if” questions.

What if as we know the challenges, we all were as eager to
seek Jesus? What if we could make the most of every opportunity to share the
stories of where we find Jesus? What if each church member could bring along
just one person who is ready to ask the question? Where might I find him?

Our Circuit vision statement of ‘Pray, Love, Learn, Go, Grow’
encapsulates everything. Jesus taught his disciples to pray as he did in the
garden of Gethsemane. He taught them what love is by his servant ministry at
the last supper and by dying on the cross

He had spent his ministry teaching them, and then after the
resurrection they were commissioned to go and grow the church. This is the
cycle and maxim that we are commissioned for in order to move forward and make
disciples.

The next 40 days are preparation time for us to be released, and at Pentecost to go into the world. People like the little boy mentioned above are seeking, and the news stories are not exactly good news are they?

We must be ready to sow the seeds whenever and wherever we
go and water them, we are told God the gardener will do the rest. The question
is are we ready and willing to listen to where we should go, and dare we go to
places where we have never been before?